Invasive plants are a pervasive problem of most ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and changing ecosystem functioning in irreversible ways. However, little is known about the impacts of terrestrial invasive plants on stream hydrology, especially during the dry season when their effect at the catchment scale is more pronounced. Water availability during the dry season is crucial for ecosystem functioning and human well being. In the Western Ghats, the dry season precedes the South West Monsoon and is the warmest part of the year.

Despite decades of research, a comprehensive understanding of the linkages between carbon and water relationships in forested ecosystems has remained elusive. Most of the available data come from small experimental catchments in the temperate zone, and are as such not representative of the diversity of soil, vegetation and historical conditions in tropical landscapes, such as the Western Ghats in India.